The audience erupted into thunderous cheering, whistling, and clapping.
"The winner of the first-year sports festival is... Midoriya Izuku!!"
Izuku couldn't help the smile on his face. How many times in his childhood had he dreamed of winning the UA sports festival? He could hear his heartbeat despite the deafening applause, and he shivered in excitement.
Then, he raised a fist in the air.
Almost impossibly, the applause grew even louder.
The symbolic pose of a standing hero, the pillar of peace.
Show the world you're here.
"I'm here," Izuku breathed.
Bakugo watched on the side as Midoriya held his fist up high, recognizing the pose. Suddenly, they were kids again, opening up their chip bags to find an All Might collectible card, with Midoriya excitedly imitating the hero's posture from the image and Bakugo laughing and saying that Deku could never, ever, be a hero like All Might.
Bakugo stood up, but even though he was now standing, he had never felt as lowly. All he felt was defeat. Everybody's attention was on Midoriya Izuku, not Bakugo Katsuki.
I guess I was wrong, Katsuki thought to himself.
Deku could be -- was already -- the hero he wanted to be.
•••
After the arena was cleared, the first-year students were instructed to leave the audience stands and gather on the field. As the students organized themselves into their assigned standing orders, Izuku followed a school robot to a room underneath the field. When he arrived, Tokoyami and Bakugo were already there.
Izuku avoided making eye contact with Bakugo, and even though he wasn't watching he knew that Bakugo was doing the same. Izuku had no idea how to face him at that moment.
Likely noticing the tense atmosphere and the fact that Izuku and Bakugo weren't acknowledging each other, Tokoyami cleared his throat and made his way over to Izuku.
"Congratulations," Tokoyami gave a slight nod.
"Thanks, you too," Izuku smiled, "Couldn't have done it without you in that calvary battle."
The room returned to silence, the only sound being the muffled noise of the sports festival above.
Izuku glanced around and realized that Iida wasn't there, even though he technically placed third as well. He must have already received the call about his brother, Ingenium.
Then, a robot instructed the three top competitors to stand on the three large, adjacent circles, and with a rumble, the ceiling opened up.
The light blinded Izuku, and he heard fireworks go off around the stadium. Confetti flew around and into his face, and the platform rose above the stadium ground.
Izuku was impressed by the scene. Crowds were cheering, professional photographers were snapping photos of the three top contestants, and, for the first time, Izuku noticed the large TV cameras.
By the time Izuku's first-place platform whirred to a stop, raising him higher than everyone else on the field, the audience's attention was suddenly directed to the upper level of the stadium. Both students and spectators went wild as the number one hero, All Might, lept down and landed with a pose.
"Now," Midnight announced, "All Might would be presenting the awards!"
All Might placed the third-place metal around Tokoyami's neck and gave him a hug with a pat on the back. Then, the hero awarded Bakugo, and for the first time since the final round, Izuku studied the blond boy.
The corners of Bakugo's mouth were drawn, his fists were clenched, and his expression was of anger but not quite the disbelief that he used to show. He wasn't looking at Izuku, which made Izuku think that Bakugo's anger wasn't directed at him. But at least he wasn't yelling and screaming with a muzzle or struggling against chains.
Finally, All Might came to the first-place platform and raised the golden medal. Izuku dipped his head as the hero lowered the medal around the boy's neck.
Izuku looked up again, and with proud smiles, there seemed to be a wordless exchange between mentor and student. All Might gave Izuku a hug with the same pat on the back as he gave Tokoyami and Bakugo, but the weight of it was different.
"Thank you, All Might," Izuku dipped his head again.
"You did it," the hero said.
•••
The walk back to the classroom was filled with a chorus of congratulations but mostly Uraraka's excited squeals.
"I thought you were gonna lose when Bakugo was going like, boom! And... pow!" She made another series of explosion sounds, "but then you -- you and your Blackwhip move, and then that final blow..."
"What she's trying to say is that you did great, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu smiled, "everyone was very excited."
"Congrats," Todoroki said softly.
"Yeah, way to go, man!" Kirishima hurried to Izuku with a grin and gave him an encouraging pat on the back, then quickly returned to Bakugo's side and threw an arm over the grumpy boy's shoulder. Kaminari and Sero rushed to their side.
On the other side of the hallway, Tokoyami, who preferred to be alone most of the time, was also talking to a couple of other classmates, smiling at their encouragements.
Izuku glanced around with a smile. The tension that surrounded 1-A since the USJ attack had faded into motivation.
"Oh right, uh, Deku," Uraraka suddenly said with a serious tone.
"Yeah?"
"Iida came to me right before the final round and said that he needed to leave because his brother got attacked by a villain," Uraraka said, "sorry, should've told you this earlier."
"Really?" Izuku acted surprised, "So that's why he wasn't at the awards ceremony... I see. Thanks for telling me. I hope his brother's ok."
"I hope so, too," she said.
After the class returned to the classroom, Aizawa stood at the podium and announced all the logistics stuff.
"You'll have the next two days of school off to recuperate. Get some rest. When we return we will be talking about recruitment."
Aizawa dismissed the class, then the students gathered their things and trickled out.
Leaving campus, Izuku and Uraraka traveled in the late afternoon light toward the station. Other UA students called out congratulations to Izuku, and he responded with grateful smiles.
"I'll see you when we get back," Uraraka said as they parted ways, "Congrats!"
"Thanks, I'll see you soon," Izuku smiled back, then made his way back home.
•••
"I'm back," Izuku called when he opened the apartment door, but his mother was waiting for him.
"Izuku... my baby," his mom pulled him into a tight hug, her face wet with tears, "I'm so, so proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom," Izuku hugged back, "I couldn't do this without you."
His mom pulled back, a smile so wide Izuku worried it would break her face.
"Izuku, my boy, all of this was because of your own hard work," her smile faltered for a moment, "I'm sorry that support is all that I can give you. Your friends, especially those who come from hero families... I will never be able to provide the amount of resources that they have... But, despite all that, despite... not even having a quirk for such a long time... You won, son... You won..."
Tears threatened to flow from Izuku's eyes, and he grabbed his mother's shaky hands, "Mom, no matter what you think, your support is what keeps me going. I love you."
His mom beamed, "Oh, I'm so, so proud of you. My son, winner of the UA sports festival! I can't believe it! Now! Come, I prepared some food for you. Do you want to watch the sports festival replay? I recorded it in HD!"
"I thought you passed out multiple times while watching. You really want to relive that?"
"Huh? How did you know I passed out?"
"Guessed."
"Well, you're right, I think it was seven-ish times? Maybe eight, I forgot to count."
"So I guess we'll save the sports festival recording for later," Izuku laughed.
"Agreed," his mother sighed, "I was worried out of my mind, Izuku. Especially seeing your quirk... You know I was so happy that you finally awakened it, but I still feel like there's so much I don't know about it. About you."
"Trust me, Mom, you're probably the person who knows me best. You knew that I always wanted to be a hero."
She grinned, "And not just any hero -- a hero like All Might, who says, 'I'm here,' and brings a smile to everyone's face."
"See? You know me."
"And I hope it stays that way," she said, a sad smile tugging at her lips.
"Izuku, when you become a hero... promise me you won't change -- that you would always smile. And promise me you'll try your best to stay safe."
"... I promise."
•••
The Bakugo household's doorbell chimed.
"KATSUKI!!! Get the door!"
"Shut up, old hag," Katsuki rose from the couch and opened the front door. The sight made him scowl.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Deku lifted up a plastic bag and pulled out a box of oranges, "I'm heading to the grocery store and my mom wanted me to give you guys this since I was passing by. To congratulate you for doing so well at the sports festival."
Katsuki nearly spat in his face. Deku was the last person he wanted congratulations from.
"You --" Katsuki was suddenly interrupted by his mother shoving him away from the door.
"Izuku! Welcome! Please come in!" Katsuki's mom smiled at Izuku but immediately switched expressions when she turned to her son, "Katsuki, Izuku barely comes over anymore. Quit being rude, you brat!"
"It's ok, Mrs. Bakugo," Izuku laughed awkwardly then handed her the oranges, "Here, a gift from my mother."
"That's really sweet of Inko," Katsuki's mom said, "You sure you don't want to come in?"
"I'm fine. Though I was wondering, Kacchan," Izuku said stiffly to Katsuki, "Do you want to come with me to the grocery store? We can talk about... the sports festival and school and... stuff."
Katsuki's eyes widened. His instincts wanted to roar at Deku to get lost, and that there was no way he was going to talk to this stupid nerd, but he held the insults back. Deku probably didn't want to talk to Katsuki either, but the fact that Deku requested to, it would be idiotic for Katsuki to not hear him out. Plus, Katsuki was tired of getting yelled at by his mom.
"Fine. We'll talk," Katsuki hissed, then put on his shoes and left the house with Deku.
It was excruciatingly weird.
Katsuki and Deku had grown apart a long time ago, and the way they were traveling side by side to the grocery store was unfamiliar and bizarre.
It was still a weekday, so the sidewalks were empty and the roads were calm. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and a soft wind carried around the sounds of chirping birds and a passing aircraft.
Katsuki glanced at the boy next to him, and Deku's expression was so painfully awkward that Katsuki had to hold back a punch.
He was the one who wanted to talk, for goodness sake.
Not pushing Deku, Katsuki waited patiently as they walked in silence. Finally, Deku seemed to have made up his mind.
"I meant to win, you know," Deku said, "But I never underestimated you. You have always been my image of success, so I never looked down upon you. I was always looking up."
Katsuki forced down his anger and considered Deku's words. He wanted to scream and prove Deku wrong, to prove that Deku was in fact forgetting that Katsuki was better, but the more Katsuki thought about it, the more he realized that Deku wasn't lying.
Since they were children, Deku always treated Katsuki with wonder and awe. But that didn't mean that Deku was submissive. When it came to fighting, Deku's defiant gaze had always been there, even though Katsuki had tried to ignore it. During their sports festival match, it was there, too.
Unlike people such as that annoying half-and-half, Deku doesn't hold back, considering the fact that he regularly demolishes his body during fights.
The memory of Katsuki's fight with pancake face resurfaced.
"I understand that Deku keeps secrets," she had said, "but that doesn't mean he's not trying his best all the same."
Katsuki clicked his tongue. Fine, he admitted that Deku won this time. But Katsuki would never give Deku the pleasure of hearing him admit that out loud.
Deku's surprised stare bore holes in Katsuki's face, making him shift uncomfortably.
"What?" Katsuki snapped, his usual annoyance flaring again.
Deku let out a small, nervous laugh, "You're not angry at me anymore."
"That won't be true if you don't shut up immediately."
The green-haired boy's expression seemed to show... relief. "I guess we're good on being... rivals now?"
"I told you to shut up."
After a couple more steps of silence, Katsuki muttered, almost inaudibly, "I'll win, though."
"We're all aiming to be the number one hero," Deku replied with a shaky smirk.
"I said I'll win!" Katsuki barked.
"Shh! We're at the grocery store already! People are looking at you!"
"Don't you shush me, you damn nerd!"
"Shh!"
"DEKU!!"
Deku escaped into the grocery store as the automatic doors sluggishly widened.
Katsuki followed angrily, but as he stepped into the store, a bottle of hot sauce that he just ran out of this morning caught his eye, making him stop in his tracks. He huffed in annoyance and grabbed the hot sauce, a grin spreading across his face.
"Why are you smiling?" Deku's terrified eyes poked out from behind a shelf.
"Go get your stupid groceries, you damn nerd," Katsuki's smile vanished and his scowl returned, "I just... really like this hot sauce!"